Report: Red Sox Declined Puig Trade

As Major League Baseball’s offseason trickles along, we’re starving for news. At this point, anything will do. How about some trade rumors? Or in this case, a trade offer that was already proposed and rejected? It turns out that the Los Angeles Dodgers are interested in Boston’s Jackie Bradley, Jr. But the Red Sox aren’t interested in the return—Yasiel Puig.

According to Alex Speier of the Boston Globe, the Dodgers floated this idea past the Red Sox. But Dave Dumbrowski, president of baseball operations, wasn’t interested.

“According to major league sources, the Dodgers floated the possibility to the Red Sox of a swap that would send Jackie Bradley Jr. to Los Angeles while bringing Yasiel Puig to Boston. The Red Sox, according to the sources, quickly declined, so there were never any substantive conversations to advance a possible exchange.”

However, Boston must clearly still value Bradley awfully highly. Because here’s the thing—Puig is coming off a much better season that JBJ. The Dodgers outfielder would slash .263/.346/.487 with 28 home runs (a career-high). JBJ, on the other hand, would slash .245/.323/.402—one year after an All-Star appearance.

Between the two players, Puig has been more productive over the course of their five seasons. But each player has also faced their share of downs. They are both All-Stars. They each (still) have plenty of potential. We don’t know who else would have been included, but this type of offer is interesting on multiple levels.